Prehistoric religion

Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, may be one of the earliest detectable forms of religious practice (the onset of burial itself being a canonical indicator of behavioral modernity) since, as Philip Lieberman suggests, it may signify a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life".[1]

Picture of a half-animal half-human being in a Paleolithic cave painting in Dordogne, France which archeologists believe may provide evidence for early shamanic practices

A number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced early forms of totemism or of animal worship. Emil Bächler in particular suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear-cult existed (Wunn, 2000, p. 434-435). A claim that evidence was found for Middle Paleolithic animal worship c 70,000 BCE (originating from the Tsodilo Hills in the African Kalahari desert) has been denied by the original investigators of the site.[2][3] Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period, such as the bear cult, may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults.[4]

Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic intertwined with hunting rites.[4] For instance, archeological evidence from Paleolithic art and from bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently had a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism in which a bear was shot with arrows, then finished off with a shot in the lungs and ritualistically buried near a clay bear-statue covered by a bear fur, with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately.[4]

There are no extant textual sources from the Neolithic era, the most recent available dating from the Bronze Age, and therefore all statements about any belief systems Neolithic societies may have possessed are glimpsed from archaeology.

Jacques Cauvin suggested that the Neolithic Revolution was influenced by an important theme he termed the "Revolution of the Symbols", suggesting the birth of "religion" in the Neolithic. He argued that Neolithic humans were influenced by a change in thinking as much as changes in the environment and noted a series of stages in this process.[5] His work suggested important concepts in the evolution of human thinking; by examining figurines and early art depicting women as goddesses and bulls as gods, he developed several important ideas about the evolution of perception and duality.[6]

The structures known as Circular Enclosures built in Central Europe during the 5th millennium BCE have been interpreted as serving a cultic function. In the case of the Goseck circle, remains of human sacrifice were found. Many of these structures had openings aligned with sunset and/or sunrise at the solstices, suggesting that they served as a means of maintaining a lunisolar calendar. The construction of Megalithic monuments in Europe also began in the 5th millennium, and continued throughout the Neolithic and in some areas well into the early Bronze Age.

Marija Gimbutas, pioneer of feminist archaeology, put forward a notion of a "woman-centered" society surrounding "goddess worship" in Neolithic Europe. The Neolithic "matristic" cultures would have been replaced by patriarchy only with the arrival of the Bronze Age. Gimbutas' views on this matter do not have widespread support today.[7]

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  Remains of a statue in the Tarxien Temples c. 2800 BCE
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  A detail from the Megalithic temple of Mnajdra c. 2800 BCE
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  According to Gimbutas: Hourglass Neolithic Goddess with Bird arm, from Cucuteni culture 5000-3500 BCE
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  According to Gimbutas, a Cucuteni culture Goddess representation; around 4900-4750 BCE
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  Goddess representation 3800-3600 BCE, Cucuteni Culture
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  Goddess council around 4900-4750 BCE
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  A clay model considered by some historians to be a sanctuary; Cucuteni–Trypillia culture
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  Bull representation, having a ritualistic role according to Gimbutas

While the Iron Age religions of the Mediterranean, Near East, India and China are well attested in written sources, much of Iron Age Europe, from the period of about 700 BCE down to the Great Migrations, falls within the prehistoric period. There are scarce accounts of non-Mediterranean religious customs in the records of Hellenistic and Roman era ethnography.

• Scythian mythology (Herodotus)
• Indian mythology
• Celtic polytheism (Posidonius)
• Paleo-Balkan mythology
• Germanic polytheism (Tacitus)
• Slavic polytheism (Procopius)
• Mythology of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples

In the case of Circumpolar religion (Shamanism in Siberia, Finnic mythology), traditional African religions, native American religions and Pacific religions, the prehistoric era mostly ends only with the Early Modern period and European colonialism. These traditions were often only first recorded in the context of Christianization.

For these reasons, the interpretations and understanding of the Iron Age cult in Europe has to rely primarily on archaeological material.

1. ^ Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, "Women in the Stone Age," in the essay "The Venus of Willendorf" (accessed March 13, 2008).